2 To Light A Candle.13 (74 page)

They were twenty against eight, and the Shadowed Elves wore no armor. Speed and momentum won; when they closed the distance, it wasn't even a battle.

In seconds the Shadowed Elf males were no more than heaps of rags upon the snow, struck down by Elven arrows, trampled by the horses' hooves. Several of the Knights dismounted and ran forward, swords drawn, to make sure they were truly dead.

"Kellen!" Isinwen cried, pointing.

Kellen saw the four survivors—all females—running toward Ysterialpoerin.

They ran in pairs, each pair carrying a large jug between them. Without hesitation, he urged Mindaerel after them.

Once he would have hesitated to attack them. It seemed like an eternity ago now. He took Mindaerel to the right as Isinwen swung left. His sword flashed out, and the nearest female's head went flying. He spun Mindaerel, facing the other, and struck again. Beside him, as if he were Kellen's reflection in a mirror, Isinwen did the same.

It was over. Kellen breathed a sigh of relief.

And then, slowly, Mindaerel sank to her knees in the snow. Kellen sprang from the saddle as the mare rolled to her side, her ribs heaving as she gasped for breath.

"Mindaerel!" he cried. She raised her head.

"Mindaerel. Lady—" Kellen choked, sinking to his knees beside her. Now that he looked, he could see the baleful green of poison, the Shadowed Elf arrows sunk into the muscle high upon her foreleg, just below the protection of her armor.

Yet during the fight, she had given no sign of her wounds. She had run on, fleet as the clouds before the Moon, had done everything he asked of her—

"Mindaerel—" he whimpered. Hearing her name, Mindaerel lay her head down in the snow again, stretching her neck out toward him. Kellen reached out to touch her muzzle. But before he could complete the gesture, she gave a great sigh.

And stopped.

She was gone.

A moan escaped him as his throat closed.

"We hail the bravery of a great warrior," Isinwen said quietly, dismounting to stand behind Kellen. "May she run forever through the Fields of Vardirvoshan."

Kellen bowed his head, feeling his eyes fill with tears. He'd lost… a comrade, a friend… one who hadn't, perhaps, truly understood the battle or the need to fight it, but who had given up everything she had to it. Out of love. He stroked her muzzle, but it was a pointless gesture; the flesh was already cooling beneath his fingers, for Mindaerel was truly gone. Perhaps her spirit was running free through the Fields of Vardirvoshan where she had been foaled. He hoped so.

He took a deep breath, and got to his feet. The task was not yet complete. He knew what the Shadowed Elves intended, but not how they were going to do it.

"Let's see what was in those jugs."

When they broke the wax seal and pried off the lids, they found that both jugs were filled with oil and dozens of rings of a strange whitish material. Four of the male Shadowed Elf dead were carrying a second set of bows—larger and heavier than their usual ones—and quivers of iron arrows with oddly shaped tips. Kellen used one of these to hook one of the white-metal rings out of one of the pots of oil—cautiously, as he trusted nothing to do with the Shadowed Elves.

He held it up, puzzled, as the Elves gathered warily around. As the oil dripped from the ring, it began to smoke, then to burn, glowing brightly, and the shaft of the arrow began to glow red-hot.

Startled, Kellen dropped the arrow into the snow, but to his dismay, the snow did not quench the ring's fire. If anything, it burned more brightly, melting down through the snow and the ice beneath, and curls of smoke began to rise from the buried leaves. Kellen scrabbled through the snow until he found the arrow shaft— it was hot even through his gauntlets—and plunged the ring swiftly back into the oil. The ring sizzled and smoked, the oil simmering with its heat, and he shook the arrow gently, wincing at the heat, until the ring dropped off. He quickly tossed the arrow aside, and to his relief, it cooled in the snow like ordinary metal.

"The metal burns like one of Jermayan's fire-spells," Sihemand said, sounding troubled.

"There's no magic to it. Not that I can sense, anyway," Kellen said, puzzled. But it would have burned as well as a fire spell. Oh, yes. Those metal rings, launched into the trees and houses of Ysterialpoerin, would have burned the forest and anything else they touched, no matter how much water the Elves had thrown on the blaze.

"Declare yourselves," came a voice out of the darkness.

A little late, aren't you? Kellen thought uncharitably.

"Kellen Knight-Mage," he said, turning in the direction of the voice. He racked his brain. He knew there were proper forms for this sort of thing, but he didn't know them!

"Alakomentai to Adaerion, komentai to Redhelwar, Army's General, hand of Andoreniel, by the grace of Leaf and Star ruler over the Nine Cities," Isinwen supplied smoothly, not missing a beat. "We come in a good hour, for as you see by the blood on our swords, there are those who wish ill to Ysterialpoerin, heart of the land, and to Kindolhinadetil, Voice of Andoreniel, and Neishandellazel, his Lady." Isinwen's voice took on the force and melodious tone of one making a speech. "These who would harm the forest came in the night, bringing fire to the trees out of season, and in a way not willed by the great balance that governs all things. Yet we came before them, as the wind comes before the storm, and so the forest stands strong by the will of Leaf and Star, and all who would harm her lie dead by the will of Kellen Knight-Mage and the ways of the Wild Magic."

That should shut him up, Kellen thought, impressed.

Unfortunately, there was very little that could truly silence an Elf.

"I See you, Kellen Knight-Mage," the sentry said, bowing, a great deal less impressed than Kellen was.

"I See you, Ysterialpoerin's guardian," Kellen said, bowing in return. Damn it all, this was no time for Elven formality!

But it appeared that the sentry was bound and determined to hold to convention. Kellen felt like a wild thing lunging against a tether; he desperately wanted to get back to the camp and bring these strange new Shadowed Elf weapons with them. But despite his feeling of urgency, he knew that offending the Elves of Ysterialpoerin would only make trouble for him later. He had to hold on to their respect. He took a deep breath and restrained his impatience.

"Perhaps you will allow me to carry your word to Kindolhinadetil," said the sentry, "that he may know what aid and honor will best sustain you in the completion of your task."

Now what was he to say?

Once more Isinwen saved him. "Compared to Kindolhinadetil's burdens, Ysterialpoerin's guardian, our own are light indeed, and we would be greatly honored not to add to them by more than the word of what has transpired here this night. And we are but come upon the wing. Our duty to Redhelwar, Army's General, calls to us like hind to hart in spring, and our hearts leap to obey."

"Let it be so, then." The sentry bowed again, deeply, and seemed to vanish without moving, but by now Kellen was practically used to that.

"We need to take the strange weapons," Kellen said. "Handle the jugs carefully. They can't be allowed to spill. Leave everything else. I'll tell Adaerion what happened here."

And let someone else worry about it for a change.

Before they left, however, the Elves arranged the Shadowed Elf dead neatly in the snow. It was not only a mark of respect, but would make handling the bodies easier later, since they'd certainly freeze solid in the night. Kellen took the opportunity to look around for other traps, but saw none, and sensed no further danger to the city.

At least not tonight.

He walked back and collected his bow from where he'd thrown it, slinging it over his shoulder, and as he did he saw the faint trail of blood in the snow from Mindaerel's wounds.

If he'd known Mindaerel had been hit, would he have stopped, tried to heal her? Could he have saved her life if he had? Even as he asked himself the questions, Kellen knew the answer was "no." No, he wouldn't have stopped, couldn't have stopped, not until the Shadowed Elves were all dead.

And by then it would have been too late.

"It would honor me did you choose to ride with me," Isinwen said, trotting up beside Kellen on Cheska.

"Thanks," Kellen said. He took Isinwen's hand, and pulled himself into the saddle behind him.

They rode back toward the camp—more slowly now, following their own hoofprints in the snow. The horses were tired, and Kellen sensed no need for haste. The fight back at the camp was certainly over by now. And if they'd stayed to fight it, Ysterialpoerin would already be burning.

He didn't want to be alone with his thoughts just now. They kept returning to Mindaerel. He knew that a good general had to use the people and materials available to him to win—use them up as often as not. He wondered if Redhelwar regretted every death of those under his command.

Suddenly Kellen found himself hoping so—fiercely. So far he'd been lucky. His people had been wounded, some gravely, but no one had died. But when they attacked this new set of caverns, some surely would die. He would not only send them to death, he would lead them to it, just as he had led Mindaerel. And afterward he would mourn them, just as he mourned her now, but he would know—he knew now—that it was something he did open-eyed, and would do again the next time there was need.

What was he becoming?

A leader. A commander. Someone who can face Shadow Mountain—stand against the Demons—and not flinch.

Nobody said it was going to be fun.

He wondered if this was how a sword felt while it was being forged.

But right now he needed something to take him outside his thoughts, if only for a little while.

"You're good at that," Kellen said to Isinwen as they rode. "Talking to the sentry. They're very… formal… here."

"Yes. I was born here," Isinwen said blandly. Kellen stiffened in surprise. If it had been Jermayan, Kellen would be sure he was being set up for one of the elaborate and obscure Elven jokes, but he didn't know Isinwen well enough to be sure.

Isinwen chuckled. "One does not forget the ways of Ysterialpoerin easily."

Kellen was only glad he was riding behind Isinwen, so the Elf could not see his expression, but apparently it wasn't hard for Isinwen to guess by the way Kellen twitched. He hoped desperately that he hadn't offended Isinwen, though he was pretty sure by now that Isinwen was amused—by something, at any rate.

"I did leave," the Elf added. Perhaps it was supposed to mean something to Kellen, but he wasn't sure what to say. After a moment, Isinwen spoke again.

"One hears that the human city is punctilious in its ways, and everything must be done just so," Isinwen said in his most neutral "discussing the weather" tones. "And some cannot bear it, and leave. Perhaps, then, you would understand that when I went to the House of Sword and Shield to train as a Knight, I knew I could never bear to return to Ysterialpoerin. In Sentarshadeen, in Ondoladesh-iron, in the eastern cities, life is… different."

Different? That was something that stretched Kellen's imagination. He'd gotten used to thinking of all of the Elves as being as alike as they looked. So the Elves had the equivalent of Armethalieh? And this was it? That was something he'd never thought of. Except that their "Armethalieh" didn't have High Mages, of course—and they could leave any time they wanted to, and go somewhere they liked better. Or go to Ysterialpoerin, if that was what they wanted. It occurred to him that for every Elf like Isinwen, who couldn't stand the place, there probably was one who found that it was their heart's desire.

So… everybody who was in Ysterialpoerin wanted to be there.

What if Armethalieh could be like that? What if people could not only choose, but actually know what they were choosing?

"You give me much to consider," Kellen said.

"A proper Elven answer," Isinwen said, "yet brief, as they are on the Borders."

"And consider me as grateful as whatever you like that you were there to speak for me," Kellen said, "since I don't think it would serve Redhelwar's purposes if I insulted everyone in the city with what was taken for unpardonable rudeness. And… if it's anything like Armethalieh"—he hesitated, not wanting to insult anyone, even in absentia—"it would suit some very well, and perhaps not others."

"We will not be here long, by the grace of Leaf and Star," Isinwen said, "nor should you have need to go among the folk of Ysterialpoerin, called the great city of the forest's heart, as they would say, again. Yet should there be need, I will teach you some simple forms that should serve you. I memorized them all, in the days of my youth, for I am no poet, and that, Kellen, is among the greatest of the reasons why I left!"

By now they approached the camp, and as they passed the sentries, they met groups of Elves bringing bodies into the forest in wagons. In the distance, Kellen could see the lights of the camp.

Rulorwen was with the groups carrying off the dead, and Kellen hailed him.

"I See you, Rulorwen. It would please me to know what you may tell," Kellen said automatically. The awkward circumlocution seemed almost second-nature by now. Even if it was "brief, as they are on the Borders."

"I See you, Kellen. It is good to know that you live," Rulorwen answered, with the same intonation as if they had met in a garden. "The day was ours, by the grace of Leaf and Star. Vestakia and Idalia Wildmage are well: I have seen them. Adaerion lives, and will wish to know that you live also."

That was the equivalent of being told report at once. "I go in haste," Kellen said.

"Take Cheska," Isinwen said, swinging down from the saddle. "There's work here."

Kellen slid forward and gathered up the reins while Isinwen had a quiet word with his mount. He looked over his shoulder.

"Sihemand, Rhuifai, come with me. The rest of you, look to Rulorwen."

He rode down into the camp. Sihemand and Rhuifai—who were carrying the jugs of metalfire and the Shadowed Elf weapons—followed.

The camp was still disorderly in the aftermath of the battle, but there were no bodies to be seen. The fires had been put out, though the smell of burning and the rank stench of poison still hung in the air, making Cheska shake his head and snort. Soon, though, Kellen knew, it would be as if the attack had never occurred.